Spirit of the Law
by Prospero Hibiki
Summary: Beginnings. Endings. Things change and stories end. And some stories just begin when they end. Come visit a very different book launch and see a world where nothing is as it seems and nothing can be taken for granted. AU.
1. Prologue: This Spirit

**Spirit of the Law**

-Prospero Hibiki

Disclaimer: Castle is owned by Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Studios. Use of these characters is in no way being used for personal profit.

Author's Note: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know none of you have seen anything I've written in ages and also that none of you were expecting a Castle fanfic, but here it is anyway. It's one of my two favorite series at the moment (Criminal Minds being the other) and I was just thrilled after watching 'Always' that I just had to write this. That being said this is NOT an 'Always' post-ep fic. This is an alternate universe fic who's divergence point is rather obvious early on. Take nothing for granted for things are not as they seem. On a final note this story has so far been written without a beta (I had no internet access when I wrote this) so if someone is interested PM me on the site.

-K

* * *

_**Prologue: This Spirit**_

The launch party was everything that she'd always dreamed one would be. There were the trendy socialites talking with some of her favorite authors. She still couldn't believe that she was actually here. If only she could get a drink, but that was clearly out of the question. It'd have been nice though. Now she just wanted to find Richard Castle so she could leave.

She paused. She was at Richard Castle's release party for his newest Derek Storm novel! She wasn't going to squeal. She wasn't. Okay maybe a little one. Better.

Kate caught her breath. She could do this. It would be easy, right? How hard could it be to find Richard Castle at his own launch party. Then again she hadn't gotten here at the start of it so it's not like he'd still be up on stage. She checked out the stage anyway to be sure. Good, that would have been embarrassing. Still, where in the hell was the man? Didn't he have to be out smoozing the guests or something. With his reputation he should be out giving autographs to every bimbette and celebutante he could get his hands near. Just because he was her favorite author didn't mean she didn't know just what type of man he really was. She wasn't that naive. But he didn't seem to be anywhere around.

"Are you asking as my blood-sucking publisher or my blood-sucking ex-wife?"

The voice was quiet and she didn't even know how she'd heard it but it attracted her attention anyway. She recognized him from the book jackets though it seemed he hadn't shaved before his own party. He seemed to be having a _discussion_ with his publisher that she was almost ashamed to be eavesdropping on.

"You could've retired him, you could've crippled him, had him join a frickin' circus! But no. You had to put a bullet through his head."

Well great, now she knew how the book ended. These people should come with spoiler warnings. Then again, it's not like she didn't already read about it on the fansites a couple of days previously, but it was entirely different when you heard the words come directly out of the mouth of Richard Castle's publisher at his own party. Definitely some hard feelings still there between them. If she were going to be investigating his murder she'd definitely be looking at the ex-wife as a suspect. She chuckled to herself. She certainly wasn't going to be in charge of his murder case so the thought was completely absurd. Aside from that the man wasn't even dead. Though if it was true that he _had_ killed off Derek Storm that might change really quickly. Hell, she might have become a suspect herself. Wouldn't that have been embarrassing. The guys would never have let her hear the end of that one.

The rest of the conversation doesn't go nearly as well for the author. For a brief moment or two she thinks she sees something else in his face as he talks to the woman. He almost seems sympathetic. It seems odd that she thinks it because he has to be worth millions and from what she's read on page six he parties harder than almost anyone else. But he autographs a woman's book without even thinking about it. The woman still receives a dose of the Richard Castle charm but it's a reflex that doesn't touch his eyes. Odd that. He doesn't seem nearly as happy as he should be.

She follows him over to the corner of the bar where he talks to a pair of women. One she recognizes as his mother, but the other seems strangely young to be at this sort of party until he kisses her on the cheek and calls him dad. She's heard the girl for a total of thirty seconds and Kate can already tell she's ten times as mature as her father. "The ever popular 'Will you sign my chest?'"

"That one I don't mind so much"

The girl turns her attention back to her homework. "Yeah, well, FYI I do."

"Just once I'd life for someone to come up to me and say something new."

Kate can't help but snort to herself as she leans onto the nearby bar. "Please, you probably enjoy the chest signing way to much to ever give that one up for something original."

Castle turns to face her and wiggles his eyebrows. "I'm more than willing to give it up if you let me sign yours as a finale."

The silence stretches between them as Kate stares in shock. "You heard that?"

The red-headed girl snickers to herself. "It isn't like you were all that quiet about saying it. And, Dad, we both know you're not going to stop anytime soon."

Her head whipping around Kate looks between the father and daughter several times unable to believe what she's seeing and hearing. "You both heard me? And can see me?"

"Is there a reason we shouldn't be able to?" The author is beginning to look at her as if she's insane and steps so that he is directly between her and his daughter.

"I'd say there is. I'm dead. Have been for the past few days from what I can understand."

"Alexis, get your things." Castle looks over at the girl and signals her to back away.

Great, she's managing to freak out her favorite author and his teenage daughter. What did she ever do to end up like this? Maybe she was a mass murderer in a past life.

"Dad, I don't think she's insane. Look at her hand." Alexis sounds slightly hysterical and all three turn to look at Kate's hand.

There on the bar where she's been resting her arm her fingers have been idly tapping, but it seems the bartender has recently placed a person's glass on that space and her hand now seems to have a champagne flute sprouting from the back of the hand.

Kate looks back up at the pair and waits until they meet her eyes again. "Would it help if I said that I'm your biggest fan, or would that just make this creepy?"

"You've got to admit, Dad, that's new."

* * *

_Hamlet_ - Act I - Scene II

Horatio: Break we our watch up; and by my advice

Let us impart what we have seen tonight

Unto young Hamlet; for, upon my life,

This spirit, dumb to us, will speak to him.


	2. Chapter 1: Unbidden Guests

**Spirit of the Law**

-Prospero Hibiki

Disclaimer: Castle is owned by Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Studios. Use of these characters is in no way being used for personal profit.

Author's Note: Written sans beta. Characters in this story may seem to be out of character but remember that everything but what you've seen so far is still a mystery. Well it is for you the reader. Hopefully I have a slightly better idea of what's going on. Rest assured gentle readers. There is a plan.

-K

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Unbidden Guests**_

"So what's it like being dead?"

"Dad!" Alexis shouted. "That's an incredibly rude thing to ask someone." She turned to Kate and apologized. "I'm so sorry, but sometimes he just blurts out whatever pops into his head without thinking about it before hand."

Already Kate was beginning to see who the adult in the pair's relationship was. She relaxed a bit more into the cushions of the couch she was laying on. The shock of her revelation had caused the three of them to take their discussion back to Castle's loft where it wouldn't seem as if the two of them were talking to empty air. She still thought it strange that of everyone she'd come across during her few days as a ghost only the two of them had seen or heard her.

"It's alright Alexis, I'd almost be disappointed if he hadn't asked." She shrugged. "I don't really know how to describe it to you. I don't really feel anything. I'm just sort of numb." Kate shuddered. "My whole body feels like it's fallen asleep. There's a kind of pressure when I touch something but it's more like touching an extremely heavy fog without it being wet." Without even realizing it she wrapped her arms around her torso as if to ward off a chill and caught herself. She wasn't cold and wouldn't be again.

Castle stood and tried to place his hand on her shoulder in comfort but the gesture failed when he passed right through her. He stared at his hand for a moment before he spoke. "Sorry, I just wish there was something I could do for you."

She believed him. She didn't know why, but she drew some small comfort from his presence at her side though she couldn't touch him.

"Kate, would you mind telling us more about yourself. I mean if you're going to be hanging around-"

"Woah, what are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious? We can see you, so there's some sort of connection between us. Some reason for all of this. There's always a reason. It always means something." He almost seemed excited by it. "Think of the opportunity this gives us. Documented proof of life after death. I could call it _Scenes of the Spirits_ or something like that. The guys at the poker game would be so jealous." Kate could only stare at him in a sort of quiet horror that she could see was matched by that of his daughter.

"I...Who do..." Without thinking about it Kate reared her arm up and swung open handed at the author's face. It would have been much more satisfying if she'd actually been able to connect instead of watching her hand pass directly through it as if waving at smoke. Therefore she was completely surprised when a moment later a quiet crack echoed through the loft's living room area. Turning he head she stared in open mouthed shock at the burning face of Alexis Castle who was practically quivering in fury.

"As much as I love you, at this very moment I am ashamed to call myself your daughter. Kate, I can't imagine how difficult this is for you. Though I have no idea why you would want to, you are more than welcome to spend as much time here as you wish. In fact if you'd like I can set aside our guest bedroom for you to stay in." She ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "I guess I can set it to lock and then shut it so that no one can go in. That would give you some privacy if you want to lay down for a bit and sleep. Wait, do you even need to sleep? Never mind that's rude of me." Alexis started to walk away towards the staircase against one of the walls, and bemused Kate followed her just to see what the younger woman was going to do.

Kate had seen more than her share of minor and major breakdowns and could see that the redhead was rushing towards one in the next few minutes. It wasn't even that difficult to figure out what the cause of it was at least in part. So she followed the younger girl as she pointed out the various rooms of the apartment and watched once she shut the door to her own room and burst into tears.

"Shhh, shhh. It's alright. Everything is alright. Just lay down. It'll all work out. He doesn't hate you. He could never hate you. You're his daughter and he loves you." Kate crawled onto the bed next to the girl and whispered comforting words into her ear because that was all that she could do for the young woman who had tried so hard to make a complete stranger feel comfortable.

Alexis cried for a while before she calmed down enough to speak. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to breakdown on you like that." She swiped at her eyes to dry them a little before continuing. "I just saw how you reacted and it just seemed so fair that you couldn't defend yourself from him like someone else could and my arm just moved."

"It's alright Alexis. I understand." Kate did understand. In some way it was exactly what she did as a homicide detective. Once someone died there wasn't anyway for them to defend themselves. She was the person who spoke for the dead. She was one of the last opportunities for the truth to come out. "The dead can't defend themselves and that is why we the living must do so for them."

Alexis turned to face her. "Who said that?"

Kate smiled at her. "My mentor told me that when I first joined the Twelfth Precinct homicide division as a uniformed officer. I was so new and excited to be there and he wanted to make sure I understood how important it was that people received justice no matter who they were or what they had done in life."

"You're a police officer?"

"I am. Or rather I was." Kate smile sardonically. "Up until a few days ago I was Detective Kate Beckett of the NYPD's Twelfth Precinct Homicide Division. Now I guess I'm just Kate the loitering spirit."

"How did you die?" There was a short pause. "You don't have to answer that if you don't want to, but if you do want to I'd be willing to listen."

"I'd tell you if I knew, but it's all a real blank really. Me and my team were chasing after a suspect who was hiding in some warehouses down by the river. We got separated in the dark and then there's this burning pain in my chest. Everything goes really dark. The next thing I know I'm waking up on my couch in my apartment. I couldn't touch anything and no one could hear me or see me. Well, no one until I ran into you and your dad at least."

"At the launch party."

"Yes, at the launch party." Kate could feel herself blushing. "Okay, you might as well say it. It's not like I can't tell that you want to."

The grin on Alexis' face practically lit up the room. "So, Detective Beckett, just what were you doing at my father's latest book launch? Perhaps it was just coincidence that you were there. Maybe you just randomly got into an elevator that let you off at the party. Perfectly understandable. I'm sure it happens all the time-"

"Alright already!" Now Kate was laughing as well. "So I _might_ have always wanted to go to one of those parties. As annoying as I've found you father in person, he is my favorite author. He has been for a long time, but if you ever tell him that I'll..." She trailed off realizing once again that there wasn't anything she could do if the girl did tell. She was dead.

"So did you like being a cop? Because I've got to tell you that if you tell my dad about that he'll never let you alone," Alexis said. "He'll be picking your brain about being a homicide detective any chance he gets. He does get kind of excited by that sort of thing after all."

"Gee I hadn't noticed that." Kate sighed. "I really did like my job. It had it's down sides, like making sure that I saw the ugliest parts of humanity, but overall I felt like I was making a difference with what I was doing. That plus I was good at it. I was one of the youngest officers to make detective and definitely the youngest woman." She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. "There's a sort of rightness in the world when you find yourself doing the thing that you're meant to be doing."

Alexis rolled onto her back as well. "I still have no idea what I want to do. But I hope I'm as lucky as you were to find the thing that I'm meant to do."

"You will. But you should probably get some sleep now. I think you said that you've got a test tomorrow and you don't want to be exhausted for it."

The two of them got off the bed and went over to the room next door. Alexis was true to her word and locked the door for her. "Kate, I've got an idea about how we can figure out what happened to you, that is if you want to know." At Kate's tentative nod she continued, "I've got a few questions to ask you about after school tomorrow, but what I figured is that we can get dad to pretend that he was your boyfriend. We can call up your work and tell them we're worried that we haven't heard from you for a while. I mean, if you already have a boyfriend, we can figure out a different way of doing it but the general concept seems sound."

Kate could only stare at the girl in disbelief. Over the course of an hour she'd come up with a fairly ingenious method of getting access to the NYPD's own investigation into her death. It would probably work too. From what she could remember there was little doubt that whatever events led to her death were related to the suspect chase she'd been on, and so the Castles weren't going to come up as suspects.

Alexis must have misjudged the detective's silence as something else entirely. "You hate it. Okay, I can try to come up with something else."

"No! It's perfect. I don't have a boyfriend at the moment and haven't even had a real date in longer than I care to admit. The guys at the precinct know I'm a very private person and a workaholic, so they might not be entirely surprised that I have a boyfriend I know nothing about. Lanie, my best friend," she added at Alexis' quizzical expression, "might be a little upset with me since last she knew I wasn't seeing anyone. Though in her mind it would explain why I hadn't wanted to go on any of the blind dates she'd tried to set me up on lately."

"What was the real reason didn't you go?" Alexis seemed genuinely curious so Kate didn't feel any need to hide her reason.

"I'm looking for a real relationship whereas Lanie's idea of a good blind date is one where the guy is able to be on the FDNY calendar and is good in bed." At Alexis' blush she nodded. "The fact that a lot of them are more than a little vain and empty headed means that by the end of one of these dates I'm usually wishing for someone to die so I have to go into work." A thought occurred to Kate and she covered her mouth in horror. "Oh god. If I died, then Lanie might have been called to the scene. I don't even want to think what that might have been like for her."

"Lanie works with the police I take it?"

"Yeah. She's one of the city's medical examiners." Kate happened to look around and saw the time on a nearby digital clock. "We can deal with all of this tomorrow after you get back from school. You need to get to bed. Knock on the door when you get ready to leave for school and I'll...well I'll do something." She frowned. It still took some getting used to that she wasn't able to touch anything. Normally in the morning she'd head into the precinct, but so far since she'd woken up the thought of seeing the people she counted as her friends grieving for her was too much to bear. It'd be particularly hard to see them and be unable to talk to them.

"Okay, Kate. Have a nice night."

"Goodnight Alexis."

As the door shut Kate couldn't help but feel that she was all alone once more.

* * *

_King Henry the Sixth Part One _- Act II - Scene II

Bedford: No, truly; 'tis more than manners will;

And I have heard it said unbidden guests

Are often welcomest when they are gone.


End file.
